Say Goodbye to G4, Say Hello To Esquire

Well, it’s official. As of April 22nd 2013, G4 will officially cease broadcasting and become a new entity entirely: Esquire.

That’s right. The television channel for gamers will become the (other) television channel for men. 

NBCUniversal’s Bonnie Hammer had this to say about the rebranding.

“Realistically, guys who are into gaming are not necessarily watching television. If this was going to come under my portfolio, I’m a little brand crazy, so I said, let’s create a real brand, define a space, understand who we are programming for.”

G4 isn’t going to simply disappear, however. Adam Stotsky, general manager of G4, will be working in tandem with NBCUniversal to expand the brand that currently exists. “Esquire magazine brings 80 years of unparalleled insight into what makes men tick, and we will incorporate the best of this iconic brand to produce original shows that build the network for growth and success,” Stotsky says.

Without seeming too crazy, I wonder if somebody at NBCUniversal seems to have missed the entire point of G4, completely devaluing the idea that games can be for people who don’t pee standing up. They seem to assume that the merit of G4 was completely in dudes doing dude things, and hope to continue that trend, but with… less video games. Instead we’ll be getting things like “underground, after-hours cooking competition where talented chefs go head to head in front of a rowdy crowd of celebrities, critics and die-hard foodies.” Sure, I’d watch it, but why not dangle the chefs in a cage fifty feet over an alligator pit? I smell a ratings boom. 

While this sounds like a perfectly legitimate business venture, it’s going to be a little hard saying goodbye to the only channel I would ask my dad to record on the VCR every week while I had swim meets. So farewell, Attack of The Show. Farewell, X-Play. Today, I cry a single manly tear in your memory.